


Secret admirer

by cuivresdesax



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 22:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6396895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuivresdesax/pseuds/cuivresdesax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brian has a secret admirer, or the first encounter, before season 1 of Queer as Folks. Brian is 26 here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secret admirer

"Here" said Brian, "I'll write it down for you”. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and wrote the name of the new band he had discovered.

"Hey, what's this paper?" asked Michael.

"Just a flyer I found on my windshield today, I forgot to throw it away."

"That's not a flyer, it's got your name on it. And, "Michael continued, "oh my god. It's a fucking love poem!" 

"What??"

"“Brian, you take my breath away  
I know we will meet again one day  
Until then I will keep dreaming about you  
And of the things that we will do”.  
Oh Brian this is just so lame!" 

Michael was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes.

“Give me that shit”. Brian snapped the paper. He noticed for the first time the “poem” and the drawing above it, that represented...a unicorn!?

"What the fuck?" He asked, disgusted. "Michael, is this your idea of a joke?"

"Me? are you crazy? I've got nothing to do with it. Seems like you have a secret lover, Casanova. Oh, well, it was to be expected, one of your tricks expects a second go. Where were you parked when you found the paper? Babylon?"

"No, I found it when I left work tonight, I was parked near Ryder."

"Do you think you admirer works with you?" 

“Sure hope not. The fucker better not expect anything after pulling such a cheap move.”

“You got any idea who he is?”.

“Not the least. And not interested to know. OK, Michael, just forget about it OK? No mention to anyone. So, Babylon tonight?”.

And he crumpled the paper and put it in his empty coffee cup.

The next day, when he left work at 9 PM, he noticed another paper on his windshield. He grabbed it angrily and immediately noticed his name, in pink letters, a drawing of ...a dolphin?? And another terrible attempt at poetry:

“I've been thinking about you all day  
I know you don't feel the same way  
But I feel we are connected  
And one day this feeling will be reciprocated”.

He crumbled the paper and looked around. Nobody. It had to be a joke, he thought. Stupid Michael. Or Emmett. 

And he drove to Woody's and forgot all about it.

The next day was Saturday. He did go to work and was relieved when he left around noon to find there was no paper. He went to the gym before starting a week-end of wild partying.

But on Monday, there was another paper. And another on Tuesday; and every day until Friday. And the again next week. After three weeks of the same routine, he was really pissed. The poems were so bad it wasn't even funny, and the drawings seemed made for a 14 year old girl. If someone was in love with him, it could at least be someone with a minimum of talent. This was just ridiculous.

He had to make it stop.

But of course, finding the guy (he hoped that at least it was a guy) wasn't easy. He was a junior executive at Vanguard and working 12 hours a day. He had no idea at what hour the paper was slipped on his car, even if he had checked it during his lunch breaks and there was nothing. Still, it could be put anytime between 1PM and the time he left work, usually around 8 PM. He wasn't going to take a work leave and play spy by his car.

The solution was pretty obvious.

“So, Michael, you remember my little fan letter?”

“You found the guy? Who is it? Is he cute?”

“Why, Mikey, thank you so much for volunteering. I need you to take an afternoon of work and borrow your mother's car. You will park at 1 PM near mine and wait for my drooling admirer”.

“Are you kidding? No way! Go to the police, I'm not gonna sit for hours waiting for some freak. He could be dangerous!”.

“I will not make a fool of myself by giving this lame-ass letters to a homophobic cop. Besides, I threw them all away. And I'm not asking you to confront the guy. Just note his license plate and take his picture. It's perfectly safe. And I thought you were curious?”.

“Well yes of course I'm curious. But what if he sees me? If he knows you he must know me. What if he's jealous? What if he tries to hit me?”.

“Michael, you will sitting be in your car with the doors locked. If the guy sees you just drive away. Tomorrow's good?”

Michael finally accepted. He was curious and this was kind of exciting. Brian was relieved. This ridiculous game was going to stop very fast.

The next day, at 1 PM, Michael called to tell him he was parked across the street from his car of which he had a good view. He agreed that he would first snap a picture of the poet then note his license plate and immediately after call Brian. If he was quick enough, Brian could get down from his office and confront the guy before he left.

At 4, there was still no call from Michael. At 5 Brian went out and noticed that there was a paper on his car and that Michael was gone, his mother's car still here. He felt chills down his spine. He shouldn't have asked Michael to do this. What had the idiot done? Why didn't he follow the simple instructions he had given him? He took his cell and dialed his number but it went to voice mail. 

Brian tried to stay calm but he was starting to panic. Maybe Secret Admirer really was dangerous and had attacked Michael. He was on the verge of calling 911 to report a kidnapping when his cell rang. Michael. 

“Michael! What the fuck!! Where are you? Are you all right?”

“Yeah I'm fine, I'm on the bus, I'll be back in 15 minutes. Can I meet you at your office?”

“No, I already took a break when you didn't call. You're sure you're okay?”

When Michael confirmed that he was alive and safe but refused to give any information over the phone of what had happened, they agreed to meet later at Brian's place.

 

Michael arrived with a wide grin on his face. “You know, that was so cool. I waited in my car, with sunglasses and a hat so your guy wouldn't see my face. It was like one this spy movies or like one of this detective movies except it was totally boring to sit and just stare at your car and not being able to read and not listening to the radio because you know I get distracted and...”

“Michael. Facts. You got his picture? Anyone we know?”

Michael's smile grew larger. “Oh yeah I've got his picture, Lover boy”. He took out a photograph from his pocket and handed it to Brian, still grinning.

Brian look at the picture, stunned. “You've got to be kidding me. There are two of them? And they're...children??”.

Michael burst out laughing. “Can you believe it? Those two kids, the blond boy and the brunet girl, they came with their school bags, the girl put the paper on your car but the boy gave it to her. Since, obviously, they had no car, I got out and followed them. They walked to the bus station. I got in after them, they went to a really nice neighborhood. I don't think they're siblings, but they got together in the same house. I would have waited to see if one of them came out to another house but you know, standing in a resident street like this, I was afraid a neighbor would call the cops. So I took the bus back and called you”.

Brian was still staring at the picture. He couldn't really see the kids faces but they were obviously very young. “How old?”.

“Well first I thought they were 10. But they're probably a bit older to be allowed to wander alone on public transportation. I mean, they look like nice kids, they were wearing school uniforms. So do you know them? Are they the children of one of your co-workers?”

Brian looked again. No, he couldn't remember ever meeting these two kids. Except...”the career forum!”

“What? Oh, right, this thing Ryder sent you to, right? Going to this private school to tell kids what a wonderful job advertising is? Saint James school right ?”

“Yes, I don't remember any of the kids. But the uniforms look the same”.

“Well, congratulations, you made quite an impression on the young ones”.

“Fuck. Mikey, I've got to put an end to this nonsense immediately. I can't have 2 12 years old kids pining for me. I'm 26, what it their parents think I have something to do with it? What if they complain to Vanguard? He'll fire my ass on the spot”.

“Well I have their address, at least one address. The name on the mailbox was Chanders. You could go see their parents”.

“No, I have a better idea. I'll keep the parents solution as last resort”.

 

The next day, Brian asked to leave on a personal matter for about an hour on the afternoon.

Thanks to Michael, he knew the kids arrived at 14h45 and what path they took to the bus station afterwards.

So, at 14h50, 2 kids, one blond boy and one brunet girl, turned the corner of a street and stopped dead on their tracks.

Facing them, arms crossed, a very stern expression on his face, was one Brian Kinney.

Brian stared down at the 2 kids, who in exchange were looking up at him eyes and mouths wide open. He didn't say a word, just moved his head to signal them to follow him, and walked without a look back to a nearby snack. He opened the door and held it for them to walk inside, certain that they had followed him.

He motioned them to a booth adjacent to the window and sat across them. He had chosen this booth where they could be seen both by the waiter and by the people walking down the street.

He sat for a minute just looking at them coldly. They really were very young. He wondered if Michael's first impression wasn't right and that they were 10. None of them dared to look openly at him, obviously extremely uncomfortable. Good, he thought.

“What will it be?” asked the waiter.

“Coffee” answered Brian. The two kids looked at him, silently asking his permission to order. He nodded.

“One diet coke please, no ice” said the girl.

“One chocolate shake please” said the boy.

Well, at least, they were polite. Annoying stupid brats, but polite. 

Brian, still glaring, and the kids, still looking down and peering at him from time to time, waited silently until the orders were placed on the table. Brian took his time, stiring his coffee, adding sugar, and sipping half the cup before speaking.

“So, what the fuck do you thing you're doing?”

There was no answer. The kids looked at each other, visibly searching for an answer. At least, they weren't denying. He decided to go for an easier question.

“Who's the darling little poet?”

The girl slowly raised a finger but immediately added “but he made the drawings!”, pointing to the boy who protested : “Daph! Shut up!”

Brian looked straight at the boy, raising an eyebrow. The message was clear : talking allowed only to answer my questions. The boy blushed and lowered his head.

“Well, am I lucky, two secret admirers. Why don't I feel flattered? Oh, let me guess, because you're fucking 10?”

“14!” they both said at the same time, a little indignantly.

“Yeah right, like I'm going to believe that. Anyway, that's not the point. Why exactly are you playing this stupid game?”

“Well” the girl started.

“It's not a game really” added the boy. 

“it's just, when you gave that speech at school”, continued the girl,

“you were awesome!!” they both said excitedly.

“The whole school spoke only of you the next day and we...” said the boy

“We just wanted to let you know that we thought you were great” finished the girl.

Brian considered. OK, this wasn't so bad. They were just 2 stupid kids having a crush on him like they would a movie star. He still had to make sure they didn't represent any threat to him.

“Why on my car? What not at my office or my home?” he asked drily.

The kids were a little more at ease now.

“Well we figured at your office you must have like an army of secretaries going through your mail and maybe they would be jealous and not give you the letters” said the girl.

Brian had to hide his smile behind his coffee. An army of jealous secretaries, right. He had only one assistant and she would have teased him to death over the letters.

“And we don't know where you live. You said at school that you worked at Ryder and we saw you leave so we knew your car” said the boy.

“You could have followed me home?” asked Brian.

“But we don't have a car. We can't drive yet” said the girl.

“Right, 12, I forgot” said Brian.

“14” they answered automatically.

“Besides we don't know what time you leave work and we have to be home at 5” said the boy who added “and I think it's illegal to follow someone”.

Brian really relaxed then. They were certainly no threat. Just annoying. He watched them more closely. Yeah, 14, did they think he was an idiot? They had chubby cheeks, not a single pimple and had both managed to sip their entire drinks during the exchange. Children really. Still, he had a point to make.

“OK, from now on, it stops. I get it, I'm awesome, now, everybody moves on with their lives. My life with grownups, your lifes with kids your own age. Is this clear?”

They both nodded silently.

“If I get one more letter or spot you near my car or my office, I will directly go to your parents.”

“No!” they both screamed. “Please” added the boy”, looking really scared, “they would kill me! I promise to leave you alone!”.

Well, Brian thought, he is probably too young to be aware of his sexuality now, but this one is definitely queer. And from his reaction that won't go well with his parents. The kid had a difficult path in front of him. Brian could relate. He decided he could try to be a little nicer now that he had made his message clear.

“Don't your parents worry when you disappear everyday to play postmen?”

“No, they think we're doing our homework at the library” said the girl.

“So, you're ditching your homework? Well, your grades must be fantastic!” mocked Brian.

“I'll let you know I'm at the head of my class” said the boy coldly.

“And I'm a close second” added the girl in the same tone.

The boy looked at the girl. “Well, not exactly close, Daph. I'm way ahead”.

“Jus! You're so conceited! Just because you're good doesn't mean I can't be too you know!”

“I never said you weren't good, you're second but there's like a gap between my grades and yours.”

“That's so not true! And I beat you at the last maths test!”

“Because the stupid teacher made a mistake in the problem and wouldn't admit it!”

 

“Kids?” They both looked up. “Focus? Me? Do you understand now? No more of this nonsense? I never want to see you again”. 

They both nodded sadly. He looked at them again, one blond blue-eyed boy, one curly girl, both tiny and so young. He had no time or patience for them but they really were cute kids. As far as kids go, probably even beautiful.

He pulled a bill, enough for the 3 drinks, and set it on the table, before standing up.

They both looked up at him expectantly. He sighed, bent over, and gave them each a kiss on the forehead. “You can still see me in your dreams. But only there”, he added softly, before leaving.

On the street, he walked a few steps and felt the urge to look back. Sure enough, he saw 2 heads over the booth looking at him in adoration. He repressed a smile and turned away.

Cute, lousy stalkers, but cute. He was sure he would never hear of them again.


End file.
